Industrial groups and individuals offered fund for CMCH
The Medical Superintendent’s phone number displayed at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.Industrial groups and individuals have offered to provide huge funds for measures to ensure sanitation at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH).The Environment and Sanitation Committee of the hospital recently decided to open a corpus account in a bank to enable philanthropists to contribute to sanitation in the hospital that provides free treatment to poor patients from four districts.Even as the Residents’ Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) began sanitation measures in a big way at the hospital, Chairman of the committee and District Collector Neeraj Mittal mooted the corpus to sustain the drive. The aim is to mobilise Rs.1 crore as a fixed deposit. While the principal will remain untouched, the interest will be used for sanitation and maintenance. “There is already a commitment of Rs.60 lakh to Rs.70 lakh,” Mr. Mittal said on Monday after the third meeting of the committee at the hospital. Member-Secretary of the committee and Dean of the CMCH Hemalatha Ganapathy and Medical Superintendent of the hospital V. Kumaran took part in the meeting.While one industrial group had offered Rs. 30 lakh, many others had committed sums ranging from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.6 lakh. The money would remain locked in the account for three years. After this, the deposit could be renewed for another three years or withdrawn. “A number of voluntary organisations are offering their services to clean the hospital,” he said.
The meeting did some stock-taking on the conditions in the hospital after the sanitation efforts initiated by the committee. The menace of unauthorised entry and parking of taxis inside the hospital had stopped after a warning of stringent action had been issued.The boards with the mobile phone numbers of hospital authorities, put up at various places in the hospital for the public to lodge complaints, had also helped. The boards had also brought down complaints of fleecing. Two security personnel had been dismissed for demanding money from visitors.A block in the sewerage was creating problems in the hospital and the Coimbatore Corporation had said it would remove it in a couple of days. The Collector said that even as RAAC carried out solid waste management at the hospital, it had been asked to prepare a detailed report on liquid waste management.
The Public Works Department had been asked to identify places where waiting sheds for patients could be put up. The hospital planned mortuary expansion and raise private funds for this.“We also plan to introduce e-governance in the hospital. We can start off with limited e-governance. The out-patient registration and pharmacy will be covered first,” Mr. Mittal said.Monday’s meeting was attended by the heads of Government Hospitals in various sub-divisions of the district such as Pollachi, Udumalpet, Valparai, Mettupalayam, Thondamuthur, Periyanaickenpalayam, Tirupur, Palladam and Avanashi.Mr. Mittal said equipment costing Rs.9.65 lakh had been purchased for the hospitals and handed over some of them to their medical officers.The equipment included Boyle’s apparatus, defibrillator, pulseoximeter, electro cardiogram machine, drug infusion pump and operation theatre lights.As part of sanitation measures, 128 pest control flash boxes were provided to Government Hospitals in Pollachi, Tirupur and Coimbatore sub-divisions. These included 16 for CMCH.
